SHROPSHIRE, the great writer PG Wodehouse once said, is “the nearest earthly place to paradise”.
And after spending an autumn half-term week sampling its attractions, it’s easy to see why the creator of Jeeves and Wooster was one of so many to fall in love with this county.
I was visiting with my wife Lizzy and daughters Alice and Harriet, staying at the 4H Park House Hotel at Shifnal — and we were in the perfect spot to explore.
Our first stop was Shrewsbury, a beautiful medieval citadel overlooked by an imposing red-brick castle and spires of ancient churches.
Standing by the banks of the Severn watching students rowing, you might almost be in Oxford or Cambridge.
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Get lost in the narrow passageways of half-timbered Tudor buildings and you might be in York.
Indeed, one friendly local boasted to us: “It’s better than York.
“Here you don’t have the crowds.”
In the town we were pleasantly surprised by the range of independent shops, especially the indoor Market Hall, which has a great collection of stalls selling everything from fruit and veg to home-made cards and vinyl records — a great place to start our Christmas shopping.
Keeping with the Christmas theme, we then ventured to one of the town’s most curious sights, the broken gravestone of Ebenezer Scrooge in St Chad’s graveyard.
Scrooge was, of course, a fictional character created by Charles Dickens and the tombstone is in fact a film prop left from a 1984 movie adaptation of A Christmas Carol, but it’s definitely worth a visit.
Another off-beat attraction was lunch at Paws Cafe (pawscafe.co.uk).
It is home to 11 cats who jump on the tables and occasionally, on your shoulders as you tuck into delicious sandwiches, teas and coffees.
Our cat-loving kids spent more time fussing over the felines than they did eating.
If that doesn’t appeal, try the Boat House, an ancient pub in a fantastic position on the banks of the Severn (boathouseshrewsbury.co.uk).
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The food and atmosphere were wonderful — try the pan-fried chicken, then sticky toffee pudding.
After lunch we did time . . . on a tour of Shrewsbury Prison.
Built in the 1790s, it was still in service until ten years ago and has featured in TV’s The Apprentice, reality show Banged Up and BBC dramas Time and Happy Valley.
We got to sit in a prison van parked in the courtyard before being taken on a 90-minute tour.
The Victorian cells are tiny and cold, with an uncomfortable atmosphere — at least three ghosts are said to haunt the wings.
Our tour ended at the jail’s grisliest exhibit, the condemned cell and execution chamber, complete with noose and drop, last used in 1961.
Our youngest, Harriet, and her mum skipped this last part of the tour.
It is not always the easiest of tourist attractions but perhaps one of the most thought-provoking.
For something more upbeat, Ironbridge Valley of Invention, a group of ten museums, tells the story of Shropshire’s Ironbridge Gorge and its crucial role in starting the Industrial Revolution.
A Unesco World Heritage Site, it offers too much to do in one day, so it’s worth considering a family Pass Plus (£96, ironbridge.org.uk), which gives family access to all the museums for a year.
We started at Enginuity, where interactive engineering-based activities kept our girls enthralled, and the site of the furnace where Abraham Darby first smelted iron using coke.
The highlight was the Blists Hill Victorian Town, a recreation of industrial life featuring reclaimed period buildings, with traders and locals in period dress.
On arrival you change your money at the bank into shillings and pence which can be spent in various shops, the most popular with our girls being the bakery and the sweet shop.
We also met friendly Victorian PC Guy Rowlands, who on hearing it was Alice’s 14th birthday, insisted on taking her to the old-style pub.
Not for a drink, of course, but to play Happy Birthday on the piano.
Those Victorians certainly knew how to celebrate.
